Kevin Parent

Anyone else hear anything about GM making changes so that their cars won't be able to be tuned any more?

KemahGT

Nope. You have a reference for this info?

NSC5

The new strategy was rolled out with the latest generation Duramax diesel. I would expect it will roll out with additional upcoming engine controllers and it appears to be securely locked.

If you google L5P ecm locked you will find some information. Tuning products for that power plant currently consist of "sensor foolers" and at least two of the companies that specialized in tuning earlier versions of the engine have stated they are giving up on trying to crack the ECM security.

Increased EPA scrutiny coupled with starting to lay the groundwork for autonomous vehicles leads to the need to have an ECM that cannot be programmed outside of the manufacturer's control.

On edit, there is a lot out there but this thread contains some pretty good data but like most things on the internet you have to sift through a lot of noise: http://www.duramaxforum.com/forum/20...ed-period.html

KemahGT

Interesting. We can thank all of the idiot rednecks out there rolling coal (and evil hackers taking over Jeeps) for taking us down this path. We are living in some interesting times right now. But just like the end of high compression vehicles in the seventies this will end as well.

My next performance car will probably be fuel cell powered electric that I’ll refuel at home with hydrogen produced from natural gas. I guess Borla, ARH, Corsa and others will have to start looking to diversify!

NSC5

The modifications to diesel powered vehicles certainly provided a lot of the motivation for this change. There is a strong owner incentive to tune these because of the less than reliable emissions systems on post-2007 diesels even if they don't want more power. In most cases it is also easy to extract far more than rated power from most modern pickup truck diesel engines because they are designed to produce full rated power while towing a heavy load for extended periods of time generally meaning that with a light or no load the engine can provide and the transmission can handle considerably more than originally rated power without catastrophic failure. But the temptation for owners to push this resulted in a lot of questionable warranty claims.

I suspect that this is a case where the various problems for the manufacturer have gotten great enough and the availability of techniques to lock the ECM/TCM/PCM have become simple enough that it was bound to happen.

BRCC

From what I have been told ECMs in 2017s up can not be tuned, however, you can send it to GM and they can unlock it for a fee also warrenty for the power train is null and void.

JHEBERT

2017-up can be tuned, however, you will need to license the ecm, tcm, and fpcm separately. If your car is auto and you want control of the fuel system as well, your tuner could pay 700.00. Add to that what he wants and it ain't cheap. This will not change anytime soon from what I hear on the tuning forum.

06MonteSS

uhhh, yes they can.... been tuning them just fine..

dmaxx3500

if an engineer built it,somebody can hack it,l5p's just came out last feb-march,,give em 6 months and somebody will get it done

so anythings possible

davepl

I figure your worst case would likely be getting a crate engine controller. I assume they've got to sell those unlocked. So get an LT4 crate motor controller and start there.

383vett

And leave the crate engine in the basement?

Avanti

...and, keep the crate engine for a spare.

DOUG @ ECS

2017's & 2018's are still able to tune, but the ECU needs to be unlocked.

This has ran the pricing up on tuning considerably. It is my take on it as someone who tunes daily that we are in the last ride of tuning and the tuning software companies know it.

I'm told by a very reliable source that tuning will be over as of 2019. No more getting into the ECU's. The performance market as we know will be turned upside down, then when the dust settles everything will made electric so modding it will consist of bumper stickers. A few years after that settles down we won't be driving our cars ourselves anymore anyway.

That said, the cars come from the factory with crazy HP now and a warranty, so it's not like fast cars are going away, just the aftermarket world is.

davepl

As a spare for when you grenade that motor with the bad tune :-)

Earl H

Wonder if this will change what cars people buy. Will that influence us gearheads to buy the cars that they can tune or just never buy the newer generation until the aftermaket catches up...crazy to think that we won't be able to indulge our hobby/sickeness

davepl

I'd imagine we'll wind up with auxiliary controllers if that's the case (ie: truly untunable).

Back in the 1994 C4 days, I had an auxiliary EFI controller (FAST) running my EFI but totally integrated into the factory harness for gauges and sensors and so on. That's the ultimate workaround for an untunable ECM. If I could do it 20 years ago, I could do it now.

DOUG @ ECS

That's what I assume will happen too, but the cost of say just bolting on a supercharger will go up enough that most will just go for the Z06 if they want the power.

tbran6

Doug are you able to unlock and tune a 2018 Z06 ECM? cost?

Kracka

Diablo just released tuning support for the 2018 Camaro SS so that tells me the Corvette will be coming shortly.

MCK_Z06

Plug and play or piggyback controllers will keep the aftermarket going.

Look at what Viper owners have been dealing with for a long time...